EGU24-18679, updated on 11 Mar 2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-18679
EGU General Assembly 2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Large-scale satellite mapping unveils uneven wetland restoration needs across Europe

Gyula Mate Kovács1,3, Xiaoye Tong1, Dimitri Gominski1, Stefan Oehmcke2,3, Stéphanie Horion1,3, and Rasmus Fensholt1,3
Gyula Mate Kovács et al.
  • 1University of Copenhagen, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Denmark (gmk@ign.ku.dk)
  • 2Denmark Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 3Global Wetland Center, Copenhagen, Denmark

Wetlands are crucial carbon sinks for climate change mitigation, yet historical land use changes have resulted in carbon losses and increased CO2 emissions. To combat this, the European Union aims to restore 30% of degraded wetlands in Europe by 2030. However, comprehensive continental-scale inventories are essential for prioritizing restoration and assessing high carbon stock wetlands, revealing the inadequacy of existing datasets. Leveraging 10-meter satellite data and machine learning, our study achieved 94±0.5% accuracy in mapping six wetland types across Europe in 2018. Our analysis identifies that over 40% of European wetlands experience anthropogenic disturbances, with 32.7% classified as highly disturbed due to urban and agricultural activities. Country-level assessments highlight an uneven distribution of restoration needs, emphasizing the urgent importance of data-informed approaches for meaningful restoration. This study underscores the critical need to address land use impact to preserve and enhance wetland carbon storage capabilities.

How to cite: Kovács, G. M., Tong, X., Gominski, D., Oehmcke, S., Horion, S., and Fensholt, R.: Large-scale satellite mapping unveils uneven wetland restoration needs across Europe, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-18679, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-18679, 2024.